Inside Out
by Frogcakes
Summary: All he had to do was win over the man of his dreams without looking like a fool, all the while trying to become a full fledged doctor. It all seemed easy enough at the time.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

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The sound of an old squeaky computer chair turning 180 degrees then back to it's original position for the twenty-sixth time in the past hour could be heard coming from a small apartment room in the city. Like clockwork, the blond man following this dull routine huffed in defeat a few seconds later while setting his binoculars down on the desk before him.

_'Where the heck is he?'_

The blond, Naruto, groaned and slammed his forehead against his desk in anguish as he thought of all the places his newest obsession could possibly be. At work? In a terrible accident? On a date? _'Oh God, please not on a date! ...Or in an accident...'_ He quickly added as he stood up and walked over to the large window that allowed him to see straight into the apartment building right across from his.

The glass was cold beneath his fingers as he brushed his hand over the slightly frosted pane. It was the middle of January - the coldest month in the city - and Naruto was yet to buy an extra heater or even get the old one fixed. It's not that he couldn't afford it or didn't have the time to report his old one as broken so the repair man would come and fix it; he just never felt like it. Besides, he was one of few who enjoyed the cold weather.

The blond directed his eyes towards a particular room one last time before finally giving up and pushing himself away from the window. Just as he did so, a trio of light knocks echoed though the room.

Naruto lifted his right brow while glancing at the clock. Not that it was super late or anything, but it was a work night and his friends all knew that. Curious, he made his way to the door to sneak a look through the peep hole only to see a pair of stunning green eyes staring back at him.

"Sakura?" He questioned as he opened the door to let his friend inside. "What're you doing here?" Feeling a little guilty about his wording towards the beautiful young woman he anxiously scratched the back of his neck and added, "Not that I don't like seeing you or anything."

The pink haired girl smiled halfheartedly at the familiar gesture and let herself in as she handed Naruto a small stack of papers. "What's this?" He hoped to the Gods it wasn't any follow up paper work he'd forgotten to sign.

"My patients."

When the confused expression failed to leave Naruto's face, she continued. "My mother is sick so I'll be taking care of her until she's well again. I was hoping you could take care of my patients while I'm gone. You have been hinting around a lot that you want more action in the ICU rather than checking runny noses, have you not?"

"Are you kidding me?! Heck yeah!" The young mans face beamed with excitement as he started sifting through the papers, taking a quick look at his new - albeit temporary - patients.

"I knew you'd appreciate this." Sakura couldn't resist smiling at her friends obvious joy. "I mean, you've been dogging the- ...Wait a minute..."

The blond, slightly puzzled by Sakura's change in demeanor, carefully followed her line of sight and quickly ran in front of her once realization hit. "Oh hey, It's getting pretty late isn't it? You probably want to head home before all the hoodlums come out, huh?" Giving her one of his best grins possible, he grabbed her arm and started heading towards the front door. "No worries. I'll walk you to your car!" His stomach sank as she tugged away from him and began stomping angrily across the room, towards his desk.

"Really Naruto..?"

Knowing there was no possible way to explain himself, he remained silent, waiting for her unavoidable speech to begin.

"I thought you were through with this already. You said you were done over a week ago!" She huffed while giving him her best glare possible. "And I bought you these so we could go bird watching, Naruto. _Bird_ watching." The petite woman flailed her arms before picking up the accused binoculars and walking towards the window and taking a look. "Does he look like a bird to you? ...Okay, maybe there are a few similarities but come on..."

"He's home?" The blond hastily scampered towards the window and snatched away the binoculars only to earn a smack to the head.

"It's been over a month, Naruto. And you still don't even know his name, do you?"

"Well, no..." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "But I'm working on it okay."

"You call this working on it?"

"I call it research."

"Yeah. Well, _he'll_ call the police. Because everyone else in the world calls it stalking." Sakura placed her hands on her hips aggressively for emphasis.

There was no denying it. No matter which way one looked at it, the guy would see him as a stalker if he ever found out about all the time Naruto spent staring through his window at him.

As soon as the blond returned home from work or woke up in the morning, he'd take a look through the window. He knew the mysterious mans entire routine, yet he still didn't know the guys name.

He'd first laid eyes on the man about a month ago; two days after Sakura had given him the binoculars. He was bored out of his mind and decided to do some harmless people watching. He never would have imagined that he'd lay eyes on the most handsome man he'd ever seen. It wasn't his fault at all! He didn't plan for any of this to happen.

Sure, he could just go over and introduce himself. But what would he say? _'Hi, my name's Naruto and I've been staring at you through your window every day for the past four weeks'_? Hell no. Under any other circumstances, Naruto was quite the smooth talker... But no one had ever made his stomach flutter the way that man did without even knowing it. The guy had some sort of power over him that made the blond more than just a little apprehensive.

Naruto never thought of himself as creepy, but maybe he _was_ going a little overboard.

"I've got it!"

"Got what?" The blond slowly snapped back from his thoughts long enough to remember his friend was still present.

"A plan. You might not like it but... Here goes. You've been ogling this guy for ages. And it's not healthy. So I'm offering you somewhat of an ultimatum." Naruto tried to open his mouth in protest but was quickly cut off. Sakura was in the zone and there was no interrupting her now. "This has to end. Either by you asking him on a date or just getting over this little obsession of yours completely. So, since I already gave you my patients, we're going to see just how bad you really want them. You see, I'll give you a certain amount of time to do a simple task. Like, let's say, to get this guys phone number or ask him to a movie. And if you don't do it by the time that I allow, then I transfer one of my patients from you to another colleague. Each task equals one patient." The smug look she was now giving him was infuriating. "And the first one is a given... Find out his name by tomorrow night. And asking someone who he is doesn't count!"

By the time Sakura finished her little proposal, Naruto was completely floored. "You have got to be kidding me. Do you realize how bad that would look on paper if you were to take them away from me? And one by one no less? Everyone would think I was incapable of taking care of them and didn't know what I was doing!"

"All you have to do is talk to the guy in a timely fashion. It's a win-win situation if you do it correctly. Or you could just go ahead and put the moves on him right now and end this already... Or forget about him all together."

Naruto slumped down into his desk chair and huffed. Of course she looked at it as a win-win situation. She wasn't the one having to put herself out there. "No. I'll do it."

"I don't see the problem anyway. You sweet talk half the nurses and you could have anyone you wanted. He's just like any other guy or girl you talk to. But to be fair, remember that you can end this anytime you wish... "

"Yeah yeah, I know." The blond yawned and closed the curtains.

"Well, I guess I'll let you get to your beauty sleep then." She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek and quickly turned away.

Naruto watched as she placed her hand on the cold door knob and looked back. "My offer's still up if you want me to walk you out."

Words weren't necessary as she smiled and took his arm around hers while they walked out of the apartment building together. And for that, Naruto was grateful.

He had way too much on his mind to bother with small talk. Like how he was going to win over this mystery man _and_ avoid a much unwanted demotion.

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**Authors Note:** My first attempt at writing! So was it good or bad? Feedback is appreciated whether it be in a review or PM. Sorry it seemed to end in such a weird spot by the way. I had a hard time figuring out how to end the chapter... Also, future chapters will be longer. This was just sort of an introduction to the plot.

ALSO... Since this is my first fanfiction, I'm going to let you guys decide whether or not it should be Narusasunaru or Sasunarusasu. So vote for which on you'd like!

Next chapter we meet Sasuke!


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